ULTIMATE Christmas tree cake (VIDEO)

5 from 9 votes

ULTIMATE Christmas tree cake (VIDEO)

Learn step by step how to make this surprisingly easy, yet showstopper 3D Christmas tree cake! Beside how impressive it looks, this Christmas design cake also tastes amazing with deep and natural chocolate and pistachio notes.

Prep Time1

Cook Time30

Waiting time5

Total Time6 30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 743kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Chocolate Sponge for 4 x 15 cm ( 6 inches)

255 g All purpose flour any low protein content flour eg. pastry flour can work too.
70 g Cocoa powder unsweetened, dutch processed
180 g Granulated sugar
180 g Brown sugar
1½ teaspoon Baking soda
1½ teaspoon Baking powder
½ teaspoon Salt
135 g Vegetable oil
3 Eggs room temperature
250 g Milk room temperature
180 g Coffee freshly brewed strong coffee, room temperature

Chocolate ganache filling

150 g Callebaut Dark Chocolate (callets) high quality semi-sweet chocolate
230 g Heavy Cream 36% fat
25 g Unsalted butter soft, room temperature
Large pinch of salt

Pistachio whipped ganache

450 g Callebaut WhiteChocolate (callets) high quality white chocolate
1100 g Heavy Cream 36% fat
120 g Pistachio paste 100% pistachio only!
8 Gelatine sheet 1.7g / gelatin sheet

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Start with pistachio whipped ganache

Place Callebaut WhiteChocolate (callets) into a bowl or alternatively chop your chosen high quality white chocolate into small pieces and place them into a bowl
Pour 100% pistachio paste on top
Soak gelatin sheets into cold water.
Heat 500g cream (2cups) until simmering, mix gelatin sheets in, and pour it over the chocolate & pistachio paste mixture
Let the chocolate cream mixture set for a minute until chocolate gently melts then stir together or hand blend.
Once mixture slightly cools to room temperature, stir in the rest of the cream, pour the mixture into a shallow container and cover the top of the ganache with plastic wrap. Refrigerate it for minimum 4 hours.
The mixture should thicken after 4 hours and can be whipped into a pipeable, fluffy consistency in a Stand mixer , or use your electric hand mixer. The key is that once it is reached a fluffy consistency (1-2min), make sure you do not over whip the ganache as it can break. Whipped ganache should be stored in the fridge before using it or best if you use it immediately

Chocolate sponge

Heat oven to 180 C / 356°F
Prepare 4 15 cm (6 inch) round cake pan with parchment paper
With an Electric hand mixer beat together the wet ingredients for 1-2 minutes: room temperature egg, oil, sugar, coffee and milk
Sift dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, salt
Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients then fold just until combined
Divide batter equally into 4 cake pans with the help of a Digital scale
Bake for 25-30 min or until skewer inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean
Cool the chocolate sponges on Cooling rack. Chill them in the fridge before trimming them

Chocolate ganache

Pour the cream into a small pan and place it over medium heat. As soon as it start simmering (before boiling) remove from heat
Pour warm cream over chocolate, stir until combined, then add butter and salt, and continue stirring until smooth, for a few more seconds
Pour the ganache into a shallow container and cover the top of the ganache with plastic wrap. Refrigerate it for a minimum of 1 hour, or until sets.

Assemble

Start with trimming your chilled chocolate cakes: you will need 6 layers:
1st layer: 6inches / 15cm - this will be one of the sponges as it is
2nd layer: 5 inches / 12.5cm -this will be trimmed
3rd layer: 4 inches / 10cm - this will be trimmed, keep the leftover for the 6th layer
Now you have 1 sponge left and you will need to cut 2 layers out of this. The 4th layer is 3inches / 7.5cm. The 5th layer 2inches / 5cm. Use a cookie cutter
The 6th layer will be a very small 1 inch / 2.5cm that you can cut out from the one that you have left from the 3rd layer
Start layering the cake from bottom to top and fill each layer with chocolate ganache.
After the last layer is on top, you might want to consider inserting a long food safe skewer top to bottom that helps to stabilize the cake but it is not strictly necessary
Chill the cake either 1h in the fridge or 15min in the freezer
Divide the pistachio whipped ganache frosting into 2 - about 60%-40% so one of the batches should be a bit more than the other. The smaller batch will be used to frost around the cake as a first layer, and the larger batch will then be piped on top to make the Christmas tree design
Frost the cake with the smaller batch of cream. You can pipe the cream around the cake first, then smooth it with an offset spatula.
Chill the cake again either 1h in the fridge or 15min in the freezer before proceeding with piping
Move the remaining (larger batch) pistachio whipped ganache into a piping bag fitter with a star nozzle tip, and start piping around the cake starting from the bottom all around moving towards the top.
Chill the cake again before proceeding with decoration

Decoration

Use sprinkles of you choice and finally, place either a homemade or store bough edible star on top

Video

Notes

INGREDIENT NOTES:

Measure your ingredients with a Digital scale for accuracy
All ingredients for the chocolate cake must be at room temperature to properly emulsify: eggs, milk, etc.
Try using the best quality ingredients; 82% butter, high-quality chocolate, unsweetened dark cocoa powder, 100% pistachio taste, 36% fat content heavy cream, etc. Do not skip salt that will balance the sweetness of this cake

TECHNIQUE NOTES:

Make sure you read my Expert tips section above to maximize your success. A short recipe alone is not able to cover all the necessary details, and science behind baking. Consider this recipe more like an in-depth tutorial, literally the only recipe you will ever need to make Christmas tree cake
Chill the chocolate sponges before trimming. Room temperature or warm sponge cake can very crumble during trimming
Assemble the cake on the serving tray you are planning to serve as at later stage you won´t be able to move the cake
Let the chocolate ganache set before filling the cake. Straight when you make it, it is runny, but it will set over time in the fridge (the chocolate and butter will solidify)
Let the pistachio ganache properly set before whipping it up. While whipping, pay very close attention to the consistency and stop whipping immediately after it gets fluffy. Overbeating would result in breaking the cream and instead of becoming stiffer, in fact, it will get runnier
Make sure you chill the cake in between applying the different layers and frostings just as stated in the recipe. That is a standard procedure for making any layered cake, and skipping it would result in best in class baking disasters
If you have never used a piping bag and piping nozzle before, it is worth making a cheaper buttercream and practice before

Nutrition